1. Field
The Invention relates to a method for testing a computer program after changing a first version of the computer program into a second version of the computer program due to a revision of the computer program.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to the state of the art the development of a computer program is associated with a time-consuming test method to detect errors in the computer program. Only in rare cases computer programs are written completely new. As a rule, the last version of the computer program is adapted to implement new functions or to correct problems. Such a new version of the computer program requires a completely testing of the software. However, there have been developed methods for the selective testing of new versions of the computer program that should permit a reduction of the testing effort.
Thus, the state of the art is based on using code coverage results that are obtained from testing the first version of the computer program. Here, coverage means that specific statements have been performed while the program was performed. However, a disadvantage of these methods is that tests are performed which perhaps have no effect on changes of the source code at all. In other words, there is no proof that the tests selected on the basis of the coverage results test features that relate to the change of the code. For this reason, the employment of such methods in modern test environments using constrained random tests is not or scarcely useful. This relates in particular to the validation of circuits.